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All the while my email box is filling up with new emails from cachers and loggers. I phoned the local detatchment of the RCMP, and fess up to my crime.

I arrange to go down to the station after work to retrieve the cache. We have a nice chat, they give it back to me, and say to go ahead and replace it in it's hidey hole. So I do just that.

The attending member, realized what it was after all the news and radio people had come because her monther is a cacher. They used the bomb sniffing dogs, and emailed a photo of the cache to the bomb squad, but eventually opened it up, and saw what it was.

For the curious, the container is well marked on the outside, what it is, but since it is hidden under a small foot bridge, the member could not see all the markings, untill they were able to remove it from it's spot.

Whoops! Glad it all turned out ok
I've been thinking about going to the local police Station and see if I can inform them about geocaching see if we can prevent a similar situation it's only a matter of time......

Had a good laugh seeing the reports on castanet.net here. I knew exactly what the police found, where they found it and who the owner was. Phoned Mach to let him know he was a wanted man. All turned out good in the end. Maybe we should have invited the RCMP to the Geocaching 101 event here. Might be an idea for next year's 101 events. Nice to see this cache back in action.

His mom is a cacher! Oh this just gets better and better. I feel for nickelgames, he's the one who was seen. I swear his wife will never let him go caching with LordEd, ahf149 and I again! Apparently they had been to his house and left a card. We still want you to come out with us Ryan!

I think we should have a second Geocaching 101 event soon around here. You'd probably get a LOT more people out to it hehe. Leave it too long and people will forget about yesterday. Just do what we did for B08 and have it at Mission Creek Park. And yes invite the RCMP.

I told ahf149 that she should take a copy of her cache page down to the RCMP to let them know why people are walking around the back of Memorial Arena with GPS's in hand. It's in direct line with the front door of the downtown detachment. Don't want any more 'suspicious package' calls.

Even if they just have access to the site, they can look by street address and see that there potentially is something nearby. Doesn't help for all puzzles/multis, but that's where a local contact could be helpful.

I've heard of people calling 911s with coordinates. Apparently, they just don't want to know. They prefer an address.

Perhaps a local contact person may be a better alternative than expecting them to look it up? A local cacher could advise pretty easily in such situations... I can even think of someone in Kelowna who would be a good contact Chances are, they even have a cacher on staff... I know there's cachers who are cops here in Victoria. I think its high time they became aware of geocaching.

In light of this event and others like it, I have contacted the City of Kamloops and I am hoping to set up a meeting with the local Parks Department and the RCMP to update them on what geocaching is all about and how to know where the geocaches are hidden. Being proactive may avoid these kinds of negative publicity experiences in the future. I will post the results of my attempts at a later time.

Why is everyone suggesting that we educate the RCMP and Parks Department Personal about geocaching. If the RCMP get a call that a suspicious item in the shape of a pipe bomb was being placed anywhere, they would not be doing their job if they did not assume it to indeed be a pipe bomb. Their job is to protect the public, not to have to do a map search of local geocaches to see if maybe the item might be a geocache. A local contact person! Really. If the police are informed of this type of activity, do we really want them phoning some geocacher to get his/her opinion as to whether it might be a geocache or a bomb, or to continue to act as they did in this instance by assuming it might just be a bomb.

Not a single suggestion from anyone that perhaps a container that does not resemble a pipe bomb be used in this and all other urban caches, amazing. For heavens sake change the cache container and leave the cammo off of it.

I won’t bother to quote the guidelines here but I am sure all who have made posts to this thread are well aware that containers of this shape and size are defiantly not recommended in “any” urban setting.

Would a small clear Lock n Lock not have done the job in this spot, if clearly marked they would have been able to see it was not a pipe bomb. People don’t phone the police to report a pipe bomb being hidden unless it looks like a pipe bomb.

I don’t see this as “good” publicity for geocaching, in fact very much the contrary. It is quite upsetting in light of the fact that I spent several hours yesterday working with our local television station in the production of a getting started/introduction to geocaching presentation. I am sure glad however that the ammo can I hid and used as a demonstration cache, was placed in an appropriate location, and that I did not use something resembling a pipe bomb under a foot bridge in one of the local parks.

Yes you are right a different and clear container might have worked in this location. It was however moved from a location where smaller was required, and cammo was needed.

The RCMP can use any information they can get. Just because they call and find out that a cache is in a certain location, does not mean that they will ignore the complaint. It does allow them to go there with the posibility that the cache is the object they seek. Contact with a local cacher also allows them to be aware that a man sneeking around a park at night MIGHT not be a problem.

Just to add a bit of context to my messages today. I was writing partly in response to what was said on the cbc1 radio show that landsharkz took part in. One of the comments the officer made was wanted to "let us know" about geocaches to prevent this type of issue.

I'm not saying that the police reacted badly given the information they had, just that there is nothing wrong with additional sources of information.

The container was not 8-10" as in the news report. I have an identical spice jar here that measure 5.5" long by 2" across. I couldn't say what size a pipe bomb would be.

Besides having RCMP members as friends, and discussing geocaching frequently with them, I have also decided to offer a mini workshop to my local detachment. I didn't think to include "city hall" but it's a great idea. Protocols are protocols and members will act upon them. Having an introduction to geocaching and the availabilty of the mapping system I believe will be an asset in more ways than one. Thanks for the great idea!

Hey all
I saw this story out here in Calgary.. Yes I'm a displace Kelowna cacher till university is done. I thought it was funny.

_canadianbacon_ wrote:

I'm surprised cachers don't come across other stashes more often. I can maybe recall 3 times finding other hidden things.

2 times it was booze, 1 time a Bong.

As to Canadianbacon above quote I thought I would tell you what I found near a cache here in Calgary.. I found a gun.. a 303 long rifle... The funny part was after reporting this find to the police and having them come and pick it up they helped me find the original cache I was searching for.. After that he was so interested in caching I think he became one.

Anyway great story when Im back in Kelowna next month I will go find the famous cache of all..

Since my original post to this incident, I have spoken with two close friends of mine, both of which have or are currently RCMP officers. We have discussed geocaching in the past and both were aware of the incident in Kelowna. One of these persons is retired after 30 years on the force and the other is currently on active duty. Both of these officers were very emphatic in saying that: When a call comes in to the station of suspicious activity whether it be during the day, or at night and they are dispatched to check it out, they would not want to have in the back of their mind, the possibility it might just be a geocacher seeking a cache or placing one back into it’s hidey hole. They said they must approach the situation as if they or the public might be at some kind of risk. They both felt that the fact there might be a geocache in the vicinity should not diminish their attention as to how to deal with the report. In fact one suggested it might be a detriment by making them less cautious.
Both suggested their response time in investigating any report must be as quick as possible, but always under the assumption that something was actually going on.

Clearly I would like to be made aware of how other cachers approach to local detachments was conducted and the response received from the detachment. How did they intend to use the information? How were they going to inform their officers? This would be helpful in presenting some information to our local detachments.

Over the past many years I have worked with many city staff in a volunteer capacity and I have found that the existence of geocaching is not high priority by city administrators, some I am sure are aware of the activity, and the odd one might even be a cacher, they see events like “search for gold” and other such treasure hunting activities as pretty much being in the same category. If they don’t affect the day to day operation of the city, or bring negative publicity to the city, then they pretty much dismiss them.

Parks department heads are a different kettle of fish. I have known the local head of Parks and Recreation for many years and spoke to him about geocaching prior to hiding a multi cache in a small park across the street from city hall. He was not aware of all the caches that had been, and were being placed in city parks, when we discussed this fact he had no concerns about the caches being placed, as long as they did not damage or destroy any part of the parks, and did not interfere with others enjoyment of the parks.

Informing everyone we can about geocaching is most desirable, however ultimately our ability to continue to use park areas and other hiding places, rests entirely on the shoulders of the caching community. If we place appropriate caches in appropriate places, then most events such as happened here will be avoided, or at least not in any way linked to geocaching. More important than informing the public of our activity, is our job to inform and educate our own members, since that will determine how we are to be perceived by “all” others, and determine our ability to continue to play the game.

Thanks, enjoyed the radio show and listening to the cross section of callers. Also enjoyed the self-important woman who thought every one in the city needed to hear her put down of the idea of caching with no reasons why, other than she might have to "do" something.

I was the last caller on that show. I was hoping to talk about trackables. I think some could have found it interesting how something can get moved half way around the world (I have one overseas right now).

Yeh, well she did not need anymore Tupperware, so I can see why she thought it was 'stupid waste of time'.

It's too bad there was not another 15 minutes of call in, and some time devoted to the puzzle solving, event's and CITO associated with geocaching talked about by some more cachers that I'm sure were listening.

Obviously the host had done some research and had some idea of what to ask, as he guided Albert into some good topics.

As us addicts know, its much more than bringing home some food storage containers! What you're supposed to leave them? Oh Oh!

As bad as that woman was, she did make me laugh pretty good with her mini-rant. Always love it when people think their opinion should be listened to when it's backed up with such strong evidence like 'it's retarded'.

I had a great and enjoyable time listening to the radio show. I think Albert did a tremendous job with his interview. I'm sure it was very nervewracking! As far as that lady goes, well we certainly know that people like to be heard no matter what the venue is. I personally felt her remarks were crude and unthoughtful and basically made her look bad, but she got her two cents in and I laughed more during that couple minutes than much of the rest of the segment.

Thanks to Albert for taking the time to enlighten people about caching! I hope the interviewer will be caching soon. He sure seemed interested in it and it made me want to go caching!

Very nice work, Albert! I think you did a great job on the interview. The 3 male callers also made some good comments when they called in, but boy oh boy that female caller just had to have her opinion heard! Her call added nothing to the interview and it really just made her sound like a stupid retard herself. As the old saying goes, if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all.

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